Unite members protesting against blacklisting, photo the Socialist

Unite members protesting against blacklisting, photo the Socialist   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Blacklisted workers have won millions of pounds in compensation after a long-running legal battle finally ended in victory.

Dave Smith, secretary of the Blacklist Support Group commented: “Despite all of the denials and attempts to cover up their secret conspiracy, the largest multinationals in the construction sector have been forced to pay out millions in compensation. Make no mistake, the High Court action is a historic victory for the trade union movement against the vicious face of free market capitalism.

The blacklist firms might have hoped that by buying their way out of a show trial, that the scandal that has disgraced an entire industry will go away: it won’t. Blacklisting is a human rights conspiracy against trade unionism by big business and shady anti-democratic political policing units within the British state.

These fat cats and their friends in the police took food off of our children’s table, causing years of family hardship. We take this personally.

A few quid and a mealy mouthed apology is a long way from justice. We intend to continue our fight to expose those who orchestrated and colluded with blacklisting. In any civilized society, the wretches would be in jail by now.”

The total figure for compensation paid out by the blacklisting firms is estimated at £50 million with an additional £200 million worth of legal costs. The defendants were: Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and VINCI.